Monday, September 3, 2007

Climate change may wash away China's dream

Sydney Morning Herald: The huge industrial zone at the heart of the "Made in China" economic miracle could be inundated by sea water as a result of global warming, scientists say. Meteorologists in Guangdong, the coastal province neighbouring Hong Kong which has led China's manufacturing boom, estimate sea levels could rise by 30 centimetres by 2050. That could lead to more than 1200 square kilometres of the province being flooded, the report by its weather authority said.

Worst affected would be the major hubs of Guangzhou, the provincial capital; Zhuhai, which borders Macau; and Foshan, home to a vast range of factories including several of those caught up in the recent safety recall by the US toy company Mattel.

Du Raodong, a weather bureau scientist, told the China Daily that southern China was warming more quickly than the rest of the country, partly due to its economic development which had come at the expense of its land resources and led to the production of many industrial pollutants.

As well as the loss of land due to flooding, the province would suffer from salt tides, tainting its fresh water with sea water and posing a major threat to drinking water supplies. A build-up of algae would damage crops.

The report will add weight to recent arguments that not only must China address the environmental consequences of its growth, often achieved with scant regard to pollution control, but that the so-called "Guangdong model" of development might need to be readdressed….

At UN climate change talks in Vienna this week, China argued its one-child policy had helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births. Rejecting criticism that it is doing too little to confront climate change, the Chinese delegation said its population was 1.3 billion, as against the 1.6 billion projected if it had not imposed tough birth control measures in the late 1970s.

June 2009 – At the studios of Cleanskies TV, I was interviewed about the costs of climate change, and discussed adaptation efforts underway in the US and around the world.

May 2009 – I helped draft the scenarios for Rising Waters, a multistakeholder scenarios effort focused on climate change adaptation in the Hudson Valley. The final report is now completed and available here.

May 2008 – I reviewed two books on climate and energy in the New Leader magazine: James Gustave Speth's The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, plus Robert Bryce's Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence.

January 2008 – A very local paper covers a very global issue.... The Litchfield County Times in northwestern Connectictut ran an article in January 2008 about Carbon-Based.

Now available: Climate Change Adaptation in 2011

A selection of my writings from 2011, plus some of my posts, as well as links... all focusing on the risks of climate change